Culloden House Farms

Meditation on Thanksgiving

2006-11-08T14:57:00.000-05:00

So, I'm doing the 1,000 gifts thing, right? It would be so easy for me to just turn this into a pride-fest about how great my life is. Giving thanks is supposed to be a humbling experience, but I can turn *anything* into a matter of pride. Some times I think Jesus created the notion of praying in one's closet just for me.So, my number one thing today to be thankful for is Forgiveness. That my

The Polls are still open

2006-11-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

Hubby had to work late last night, so we didn't get to do our election. The kiddos were zonked by the time he was done. So, we'll try again tonight!

One thousand gifts

2006-11-07T14:54:00.000-05:00

My friend Ann has started a list of thanksgiving, and she is inviting everyone to join her. Basically, you are supposed to come up with 1,000 you are thankful for and list them. My goal is to be done by Thanksgiving.Here's the first 10:1. That we have a loving God.2. That my biological mother chose to give me life.3. That my parents took me in.4. That my mother came to Christ before she

This is Nuts

2006-11-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

Read this.It is absolutely appalling. We could prevent abortion by killing babies.If this were policy, my niece would've been on the chopping block. She was severely brain-damaged at birth. But, 1 and 1/2 years later, she is talking, crawling, cruising the furniture, and leading a happy existence with her happy family. So, if the theory is that we should wait and see how they develop, then

The candidates and the issues

2006-11-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

We have some pretty interesting issues in this year's campaign.Here they are:The Nouners are forGetting dressed before breakfast (except Christmas morning)Doing 15 minutes of work before watching TV or playing on the computerClearing the table after supper, but before watching Daddy play computer gamesIan and Alex can have help with cleaning their room, but only if they really need it.Let Daddy

Finally, candidates you can feel good about!

2006-11-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

Today being election day, we are having the first annual Emperor of the House election. There will be two candidates this year, Mary, from the Noun Party, and Ian, from the Wootie Party. They are currently preparing their campaign platforms and slogans, which I will post when they get them done.So, the real question of this election is:Will you be a Nouner or a Wootie?

I can't wait for this election to be over

2006-11-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

I realize this is an important election, and that Ohio is a real battleground again this year. But, I am so fatigued with electionering. I get 2-12 pieces of political mail every day. I get to listen to radio adds (complete with thundering, emotional music) about how the world will end if X is elected.If any of you out there are Glenn Beck listeners, you know about the Velveeta/Phlemowsky

We're from the government and we're here to help II

2006-11-03T13:52:00.002-05:00

In my post below I mention that the government has gone onto farms and destroyed animals unnecessarily and with no compensation. I've gone back to nonais.org and looked up the details. There is a lot more information there than was previously, and it is shocking. The Henshaws were confined to their home for several days while government employees slaughtered the boars and sheep on their game

Memory Work

2006-11-02T11:47:00.000-05:00

I feel crappy today. Too little sleep, and I think I'm getting the kids' cold. This week is fall break, due to the fact that Hubby took Monday and Tuesday off of work, and everyone's been sick. Some fun break. :)I've spoken before about recitation being a great time saver for us, but I've never really outlined how we do it. This is what our recitation looks like, for Mary. Ian follows

We're from the government and we're here to help

2006-11-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

Interesting article here, about the opposition to the National Animial Indentification System (NAIS), complete with government rebuttal.My husband has a shirt with the slogan, "We're from the government and we're here to help." Below is a British soldier bayoneting a Minute Man. We bought it as a chuckle, since we reenact British and have an odd sense of humor. However, it has never been more

Sugar Rush

2006-11-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Last night was our trick or treat. Most of the families on the road don't celebrate Halloween at all, so we went into town for our candy. The boys did not go, due to massive attitude problems most of the day. They are currently begging Mary for some of her candy."What?" you ask, "A Christian home-schooler that does Halloween? Impossible." Yep. We are, as I often say, freaks. Even among the

Happy Dance!

2006-10-27T13:52:00.000-04:00

I am very excited to report that we have.....Dum, dah, dah, dah....DSL!Finely the sticks gets into the 20th (let alone 21st) century. It will be much easier for me to post from here on out, so I should be more regular than I've been in the last couple weeks. So, yay for me!

Shameless Promotion

2006-10-17T19:26:00.000-04:00

I've finally gotten enough work done the retail site for the farm that I'm ready to post it on the blog. It's still very much in progress, but the calendar is active. So, please head over there, especially if you are local to central Ohio. I'd love to see you at a show!

What is the world coming to?

2006-10-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

What follows is pure, unadultarated rant. There may or may not be cogent musings on the state of society, children, and/or the family.Hubby's best friend is getting married in December. We've known about the wedding for almost a year, and since before most people. My daughter has been very excited about it, since this friend is one of her favorite adopted uncles. We've been very excited about

3 year olds are interesting people

2006-09-29T08:38:00.000-04:00

This morning I was sitting in my bedroom, talking to Ian. Alex walked in from my bathroom, carrying an old toothbrush."Mama, look what I found!""Yes, that's yucky."Alex looks at it, "No, it's not.""Yes, sweetie, it's old and yucky and I don't use it anymore.""Oh." He climbs into my lap."What's your favorite color?" I ask. We had been talking about colors and numbers as I got him dressed."BLUE!

Stewed Apples

2006-09-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

This morning I made stewed apples for breakfast. Oooh, oooh, was it yummy. This is a very versatile dish. You can eat it alone, like we did, or do any number of things:mix into hot cerealserve over ice creamspoon into precooked pie or tart crustsserve over shortbread, shortcake, or bread puddingmix with saurkraut and cook a pork roast in it (which is super good, tangy, tart, and sweet)serve

Apple Picking (or the lost art of creating)

2006-09-25T14:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Mary and I went apple picking. We picked 1/2 bushel that I am getting ready to turn into jelly and apple butter. I was shocked by the number of people who paid for 1/2 peck bags for each person in their family and then only filled each half way.I can remember going apple picking with my mother. It was a big day that we looked forward to all September. We'd go to the orchard and

I feel a bit better

2006-09-21T11:42:00.000-04:00

I've been slogging through with a nasty cold the last couple of days. Of course, Hubby had it for all of 3 hours (he does that), and the kids were down for a day, but Mama still isn't feeling all that well. I was glued to the couch from about noon Tuesday until this morning. I got up a few times to do stuff, but not much got done.Mary was helpful, she kept things tidy and helped me get the

I am in geek heaven.

2006-09-18T10:28:00.000-04:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this blog, but I just had to point out that I just found Wil Wheaton's blog. As a card carrying geek and a 30-year-old, he had a huge impact on my childhood. I mean, he was like my second official crush (after Kirk Cameron, of course). I never would have watched ST:TNG if he hadn't been on it. I wanted to be on the Enterprise, helping him

Remember the Pope's anti-Muslim speech?

2006-09-17T09:02:00.000-04:00

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI made a speech in Germany, and quoted a Byzantine emporer who thought Muslims were violent and needed to be opposed (this was at a time when Constantinople was under direct threat of invasion). Now, some Muslims were so outraged that the Pope would characterize Islam as a violent religion that they burned him in effigy and destroyed three churches. Right.Anyway,

Things that make you go hmmmm....

2006-09-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

Last night, as I was driving home from Whole Foods, a Chipotle commercial came on the radio. Now, I love Chipotle. Heck, I don't even mind McDonald's. McDonald's owns somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of Chipotle stock. I'm sure the amount varies, but it's definately a controlling interest.So, the Chipotle commercial was going on and on about how they support sustainable agriculture and

What's so great about Greek?

2006-09-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

After my Latin post below, I got an email asking why we study Greek, and for encouragement in the pursuit. Seeing as I have a bazillion things to do today, it seemed like a good time to write about it. (And Hubby says I have no time management skills. ;-) )Many of the advantages to the study of Greek are similar to those of studying Latin. I'll repeat the immediate benefits:The immediate

2006-09-15T10:34:00.000-04:00

Well, today is a big day. Normally I'd be heading out tomorrow morning to sell things at the farmer's market. But, as this weekend is the town festival, there won't be many people there (the market is in the next town over). So, I'm having a porch sale instead. It will give me an opportunity to sell not just my craft and baking stuff, but also books and militaria that we normally take to flea

Remind me again why God made boys?

2006-09-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

Q: What do you get when you mix a pillow full of feathers, two bottles of poster paint, and 3 minutes?A: The boys' room and a mess that takes four hours to get to a semblance of clean.They are still up in their room now, finishing. Mary and I cleaned the carpet and got up the majority of the feathers. We left a pile for the boys to clean up. Whether or not they actually do so before their

Five Years Ago

2006-09-13T12:38:00.000-04:00

Five years ago......Hubby's bags sat packed next to the door, waiting for a call....Mary made lego models of the Pentagon, and "saved all the people."...We huddled on our couch, thankful to be alive and together.Five years ago......We looked up, startled, when the rare plane would fly overhead....We looked for terrorists everywhere....We looked after the Muslims in our midst, wary of

Out to Lunch, will return in 12 days

2006-09-01T12:56:00.000-04:00

You may notice a few changes around the blog. Well, I've been meaning to redecorate for a while, and blogger just came out with a new beta, so I figured now was as good a time as any. I will be offline until a week from Wednesday. We are painting the boy's room with a nautical theme over the weekend, then we start school and I will need to put all my energy toward getting on track, then Hubby

30 Days of Nothing

2006-09-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of 30 Days of Nothing. We will not be participating, but it is a wonderful idea and I wanted to put it forward for general "consumption."

What's so great about Latin?

2006-09-01T10:12:00.000-04:00

I recently had a friend ask me via e-mail what I thought the benefits of Latin have been for us. Do you feel it's been really worthwhile? What advantages do you perceive your children to have because of the instruction in Latin they've received?Here is my answer:The immediate benefits I've seen with Mary are increased focus when working, wider vocabulary understanding, better spelling and

Rocks, anyone?

2006-08-31T11:19:00.000-04:00

More NAIS zaniness at NoNAIS.org. I have *plenty* of rocks to sell. Trust me. Now, just to get the sheep to go with them. Not sure what we're talking about, check out this previous post.[Update 11:46-I just finished reading the rest of the page on their blog, and this is just disturbing. I want to believe in my heart-of-hearts that it's just some wacko, but from the domain registration, I'm

The Latin Centered Curriculum

2006-08-29T12:56:00.000-04:00

Well, my copy of LCC came in the mail yesterday, and Bravo, Drew! I skimmed the first three chapters, because, well, I don't need any convincing at this point. :) I will go back and read through them later, but I'm in the final throws of planning the first 6 weeks of school, getting ready to head to the library tonight, and I wanted to see the recommendations *now.*Good news, our own little

The official fall schedule

2006-08-27T00:55:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is. I will probably end up tweaking it. I'd like to get to the point where we aren't spending so long on chores, but with the littles that may not be reasonable.7:30-breakfast8:00-morning chores8:30-school: recitation, grammar, math, CW A&I11:30-lunch, followed by noon chores12:30-yoga1:30-school: our daily block subjects, school reading, read aloud, writing project, culminating

As September rolls around again

2006-08-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

Well, it's almost time for the start of our fall term, which officially starts the day after labor day. This will be the first year that I'm officially schooling two, a 4th grader and a K. Over summer term we worked out some scheduling kinks, finished off all the goals for third grade, and got an idea of how Ian learns and what he likes and dislikes.We have some issues to work out as we gear up

EWTN Strikes Again

2006-08-24T10:29:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the commenters to my post below about Catholic Apologetics. Upon following one of the links I ended up at the EWTN website. They have a helpful FAQ, with actual logical reasoning no less, and an option to ask a question if you didn't get the answer you were looking for. Bless the woman who started EWTN, as it is just about the most helpful and interesting Catholic resource out there.

Catholic apologetics?

2006-08-23T19:45:00.000-04:00

My brother and sister-in-law are in the process of joining the Catholic Church. Yay for them, seeing as they were alternately Buddhist, Agnostic, and Atheist. However, Catholic wouldn’t have been my first choice. I have been doing some heavy-duty research into Catholic doctrine, as I think a family should be as ecumenical as possible, and I want to really understand what they believe. So, I’

I am a baaaad girl.

2006-08-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, folks, sorry I haven't posted in over a month, but life before computer. I've been on vacation (3 days with the family in Indiana, including a trip to Indiana Beach), canning, doing school, running the house, etc. Life, basically. And I've not really had much to say recently. (Which is a big surprise.) However, a nice little rant, AHEM, post will follow this.Also, Mungo's blog is no more.

Blogger was hiccoughing yesterday...

2006-06-08T11:47:00.000-04:00

I have the end of my day in the life post, but couldn't get it up yesterday. You'll be seeing it in a few minutes![Update: It's done!]

A Day in Our Life

2006-06-07T09:15:00.000-04:00

Today, I thought it would be interesting to blog the way through our day. I'll be updating throughout the day and we'll see how it goes.Our main plans for today are to do school, pay bills, write the grocery list, finish mowing the front yard, weed the garden, and go out tonight with Hubby. It's his normal game night, but we haven't seen much of him and we'll be eating dinner together, then I'll

NAIS Doublespeak

2006-06-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

The USDA has released a new publication, The National Animal Identification System: A Guide for Small Scale or Non-Commercial Producers. Others at NoNAIS.org have questioned the veracity of this publication vis-a-vis the actual government regulations currently in place. I'm going to go with the assumption that everything in the publication is the honest truth. It's still scary enough that way.

Sorry, IE users.

2006-06-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

I just looked at my previous post in Internet Explorer, and it sticks all kinds of funky commented-out script code. I normally view in Firefox, where it looks fine. I promise to go in when I have time and edit the HTML so it doesn't look so funky. That's what I get for composing in Word.

Family Disaster Plan

2006-06-03T16:14:00.000-04:00

It's hurricane season again, and while Ohio isn't a hurricane prone state, it's still a good time to review/comeup with a family disaster plan. Here's a brief outline of our plan. It goes from the fairly common to extremely unlikely, but better safe than sorry.Level 1-24 hour shelter in place. v Store 4 gallons of water. v

School schedule

2006-06-03T15:19:00.000-04:00

So, I've been working on our schedule for school this fall. I will have two official students for the first time, and the farm chores are getting bigger, so I need to make sure we get everything in as efficiently as possible.Here is what has made the cut for Mary (soon to be 9, 4th grade, or Year 2 of grammar school):Grammar and Progym: Latina Christiana I with Lingua Angelica. Then begin LCII

news on the NAIS front

2006-06-03T13:22:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like the NAID may not make it as a mandatory program. However, if you read the comments to the article, several other things seem to be on the horizon. Firstly, the USDA has not given up. They continue to pressure people into getting a premisis ID via their various wings (mostly notably 4-H and the land-grant university extension system). Congress is pretty apathetic, as no one

Saturday Garden Update

2006-06-03T12:18:00.000-04:00

Well, we got plenty of rain the last couple of days, and it looks like the pickling cukes are coming up already. However, it looks like I've got something eating the leaves on my cabbages and peppers, so I'm going out this afternoon to spray. I've got a 1-gallon pressure sprayer that I use to fertilze (either compost tea or fish emulsion). I'm going to fill it up with 1-part dish soap and 9-

Whew!

2006-06-01T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well, the garden is finally in. This is the first time in my life that I've gotten a vegetable garden completely planted before the 1st of June. I'll update the side bar later but here's what's going on: radishes are in and being eaten. I've let a couple go to seed and we'll see what I can save. carrots are starting to get big and I need to thin them some. Hopefully we'll be eating them in

Passive Racism and the Seattle Public Schools

2006-05-17T09:16:00.000-04:00

Check this out. (HT: Rod Dreher)This bothers me. A lot.Many others have dealt with the implications that the Seattle School district believes that only white people can be racist, so I'm going to skip that.What I want to focus on is "Cultural Racism."Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value andnormality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and

The New New SAT

2006-05-10T08:03:00.000-04:00

The new SAT has caused a 15-point drop in student scores. This, to me, is likely a good thing. They've done so much dumbing down on that test that it's crazy. Mensa used to accept SAT scores for proof of IQ for admission. Now they don't because the newer tests aren't a good predictor of reasoning abilities. Everything now is focused on "subject tests."That subjects are the focus is a sign we are

When France Is an Improvement

2006-05-09T15:58:00.000-04:00

A liberal proves that anyone with an ounce of sense sees the need for something better than the public schools. The scary thing is, it can evidently be found in France of all places. Since when did we let France be better than us? Granted, I don't think I'd want to see an exact replica of French education here, after all they make our societal meltdown look like a walk in the park. (See here and

New home for us Trad Classical wierdos.

2006-05-09T07:49:00.000-04:00

Drew Campbell, aka Mungo, has started a new website for Latin-Centered Classical. His book _The Latin-Centered Curriculum_ is due to ship next week. I'm hoping to beg for it for a Mother's Day present. The site has a forum, info on the book, and several articles about LCE. Now you can go geek-out on Latin to your heart's content.

Talk about stuff you don't need!

2006-05-08T12:29:00.000-04:00

Evidently raising a child is now supposed to cost $250,000 plus college. Okay, #1, scaring parents with sticker shock is a pretty mean trick. #2, you don't need all that stuff.Here's a list of all the things mentioned in the article that we never used:Maternity leave. I wasn't working during any of my births, so we didn't have to worry about it. Hubby had vacation he could take and we

Ah, Yes! It was poor education and the lack of peasants!

2006-05-04T11:55:00.000-04:00

While I generally respect Susan Wise Bauer and have learned much at her feet, I really have to wonder what she and other neo-classicists think trad classical is. Tuesday in her blog she quotes Norman F. Cantor.Cantor basically says that all the education given during the Roman Empire was grammatical and stylistic. The one and only purpose was to create orators. He mentions Quintillian in the

Call me a pessimist, but....

2006-05-04T10:20:00.000-04:00

"You can't talk about what is probably an irreversible decline, accelerated by technology, in our ability to read and think."--Mere Comments (HT: Mungo)Let's face facts people. Our society is in decline. Whether we are going to go the way of the Roman Empire or the Tribulation is up for debate, but something is going to happen, even if it isn't completely catastrophic. We are in the midst of

Afganistan

2006-05-04T09:24:00.000-04:00

This is the first I've mentioned it, but Hubby has been offered a position in Afganistan. It's a year contract, but we've decided that, if he goes, the most we could do is 6 months. The pay is 6 figures, even for the 6 month stint. Boy is that a lot of money. I mean, there is a lot we could get done with that. We could get all of our non-mortgage debt paid off, pay a significant amount on

Election Day Musings

2006-05-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

The craft show this weekend was held at the local high school. When this happens, two things are sure to follow:I will have to remind Mary *again* how one behaves in a school, to not run down the halls and do gymnastics.I will meet some of the unfortunate inmates and feel sorry for them.I met a really interesting girl Saturday. She was this freshman, fish-out-of-water, proto-goth girl. She

Such Is the Stuff of Life

2006-05-01T18:55:00.000-04:00

This has been a week of ups and downs. Hubby's grandfather died and we had the funeral Thursday. Being twice-orphaned, I am no stranger to death. My first grandparent died when I was 7 and the last when I was 23. My father died when I was 12 and my mother when I was 18. I've seen traumatic death, quick death, and the slow, lingering death from illness. I've seen small, little-remarked funerals,

Stop the Insanity

2006-04-12T16:47:00.000-04:00

Evidently profanity-laced political diatribes in the form of movies are now part of the Alabama 8th grade science curriculum. And people wonder if homeschoolers can cut it academically. At least our science class has actual science in it.

The Pearls

2006-04-12T10:38:00.000-04:00

Ann has interesting post about her journey with child-rearing and the book To Train Up a Child. I think that about the worst thing a parent could do is to implement that book as written. There are something like 10 chapters on training, and one chapter on loving. Mr. Pearl talks about training your child into perfect obedience there, yet a recent issue of their magazine, No Greater Joy, has

This is not the state I grew up in

2006-04-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

An Indianapolis middle-schooler has been suspended and recommend for expulsion for turning in a knife. (Hat Tip: Mungo)I generally hold up Indiana as a place of common sense, somewhere where, for example, it is illegal to purchase alcohol from a motor vehicle (unlike Ohio). It looks like the edu-nazis are taking over there as well. I can still remember the day my senior year of highschool when

Curricula

2006-04-01T22:24:00.000-05:00

One of the mirad of reasons I started this blog (along with the desire to hear myself talk) was to create a record of our lives, specifically the farm and our schooling. I've been updating on the farm, but I've written little about school. I think now is the time to outline our curricula.Mary (8yo)--Latina Christiana I, Elementary Greek I, Christian Studies I, D'Aulaire's Greek Myths,

My take on illegal immigrants

2006-03-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I suppose that I must comment on the whole illegal aliens thing. No one in congresss is getting this right. They are, as usual, illustrative of the absurd. On the one hand we can ask illegals nicely to please let us know about them and then charge them a fine roughly equal to a month's wages in a $7 an hour/60 hour a week job, after all it's not like they live below the poverty line or

I am a beer

2006-03-29T20:54:00.000-05:00

Guinness(66% dark & bitter, 66% working class, 100% genuine) Okay, we all know Guinness is the best possible score on any "What Kind Of Beer Are You" test, so you can just go on and pat yourself on the back now. Like the world's most famous brew, you're genuine, you've got good taste, and you're sophisticated. What else can I say, except congratulations?If your friends didn't score the same way,

My long absence/farm update

2006-03-29T20:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. We've had a rash of power and phone outages (still on dial-up out here in the sticks) and I've been working like mad to get the early spring crops in. The peas, beets, onions, garlic, potatoes, and lettuces are in and I've got the melons, peppers, cabbages, rhubarb, leeks, tomatoes and celery started inside. Now, I'm just waiting on the neighbor to get

NAIS and the nanny-state

2006-03-29T20:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm a little slow on the uptake. I've been hearing about NAIS for a while now, everywhere from the news to Coast to Coast AM, but I've not really looked at it myself until today. Man-0-man, do I not like it. I find RFID to be creepy when it's in a calculator, how much more so when it is in the animal born on my farm. The Orwellian and Mark-of-the-beast overtones get under my skin.Not

garden miscellany

2006-03-11T19:12:00.000-05:00

I got five rows of carrots and three rows of radishes planted today. The radishes should be ready around the first full week of april and the carrots, the third week of may. My seed order came in today, and I got red onion sets, garlic sets, and seed potatoes today. I also need to get celery, peas, lettuce, asparagus, leeks, beets, and seed onions in over the next week or so. I'll post as I

Clog dancing in my mind

2006-03-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

Today was one of those soft early spring days that make me nostalgic. I don't know if it's the fecundity of this time of year or the melancoly of the skies, but this is the time of year when I miss my parents most. Growing up, this was always the best part of the year. We were getting ready for our big Easter banquet at Morris Bryant and annual trip to put flowers on the graves of all the family

Candlelight dinners

2006-03-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

Last night we had a candle light dinner. No, it wasn't a romantic meal with hubby, he wasn't even home last night. Nope, our power went out. When we moved in last year we had power outages pretty much all the early spring. Supposedly, AEP fixed all the problems last year, but it looks like they may have not survived the winter. Lord, please help them to find and fix the problem.The power

What's in a name?

2006-03-09T08:16:00.000-05:00

It has just now occured to me that the reference in the name of our farm may not be obvious to most people. "Culloden House" is the name of a manor house just outside Inverness, Scotland. It lends its name to the battle fought by "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and the Jacobites in April of 1745. A couple of the Jacobean kings were kings of England and Scotland, until Parliament got worried that they

It's book-it enrollment time

2006-03-09T08:12:00.000-05:00

This is something I never get around to doing until the last minute. Last year we didn't even enroll. So, if you like to go to pizza hut occasionally and have a reluctant reader like mine is, go here.

Mungo's book is done!

2006-03-08T11:30:00.000-05:00

It looks as though Memoria Press is ready to go to print on Mungo's book. It's showing up in the latest edition of The Classical Teacher, but it's not on the website yet. They aren't taking preorders just yet, so I'll have to wait just a tad bit longer. If you are interested in what they book is about, there are early drafts of the first few chapters available on the LatinClassicalEd yahoo group.

It's a garden! No, it's a history lesson!

2006-03-08T11:13:00.000-05:00

Well, I got my order for seed in to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed yesterday. I was going to order from them last year, but the cash was not there and I had to content myself with stuff from walmart. Good enough for what it was, but mostly not worth saving seed from. This year I'm going to try to save seed from a couple of the plants I'm growing and see how it goes.Some of the more exciting seed I

caveat on part 2

2006-03-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

I am not at all happy with the way I've written part 2 of my Traditional Classical Homeschool post. There are some really akward parts, but I figured I'd better get it up before it started gathering dust. I may go back in and change bits, but if I do I will post the original text and the change here. Then again, I may just leave it the way it is, warts and all.

Traditional Classical Homeschool (part 2)

2006-03-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

A traditional classical education is, in many ways, a completely different animal from a neo-classical one. Traditionally, an education could not be classical unless it centered around the classics. From the ancient Greeks until the 1800's, there was no need to use the term "traditional" or even the term "classical." One would simply call it an education. It was assumed that any learned person

To duck, or not to duck

2006-03-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

I know my description says that we run a small organic farm, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we are starting to run a small organic farm. We've only lived here for year and so far the only thing I've gotten growing is a small garden. My husband got laid off right when we moved in, so we are still struggling to get back to where we were. We live on 8 acres and only own a push

Traditional Classical Homeschool (part 1)

2006-03-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, homeschoolers are a minority in this country. Classical homeschoolers are a minority of homeschoolers, and traditional classical a minority of that minority. So, I figure there are maybe a thousand of us in the whole country. Just as homeschooling is often misunderstood and classical homeschooling even more so, trad classical is about the most misunderstood of all. Here is my little, likely

Busy, busy, busy

2006-03-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our once monthly trip into the big city for groceries, with the added bonus of $100 from our tax return to stock up on staples. So, early yesterday morning I packed the kiddos into the station wagon and took hubby to work downtown and we started our excursion. Here I'd like to relate a few rules I have for grocery shopping:Ask the family what they'd like to have to eat, then plan

Yet more kool-aid

2006-03-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Tracy the Toyota auto-worker from Kentucky makes yet another kool-aid reference over on Crunchy Cons.

Pass the Kool-aid

2006-03-01T16:07:00.000-05:00

What is it with Jim Jones references these days? I haven’t seen anything about him for a long time, and suddenly I see kool-ade references everywhere. There are a couple of forums I read (until this week anyway) and one forum has been accusing the other forum of being a group of “kool-ade drinkers.” The next place I hear it is on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Now, I’m not a huge Hannity fan, so

Well I did it

2006-02-28T18:02:00.000-05:00

I always said I would not have a blog, but here I am. I don't know if I got more to say than usual or just fewer people to listen? Anyway, I've done it. Oddly, now that I've started the blog, I don't have much to say. Instead, I'll just post some links to other blogs. These are from people that I know (either online or IRL) outside of the